Competitions...

So Kite Race in Banna, Co. Kerry that supposed to take place next weekend has been cancelled :(
But the competition in Achill has been announced: 11 & 12 September!
Time to stop crashing and start landing! ;)

New babies got some water and sand on!

Finally got to test my new North Rebel 2009 kites, on the west coast of course! ;)

Went to Lisadell on Saturday afternoon and arrived on time for a late session.
It felt very windy so I pumped a brand new lovely 6m! To be honest I should had pumped 9m, but my heart was set on trying all kites and we knew the wind was to drop off on Sunday.

Out of their bags they look really sweet. One pump system!!! I know why they call it a lazy pump - it took me longer to put my wetsuit on than to pump 12m!
And there is no middle strut! The colours are LOVELY, kites look so pretty !!!
I was laughing at myself as I kept flying my kite very low so I could look at it! :)

Once again they are quite grunty kites.
12m felt very powerful and I will be taking it out in those very light wind days only. I think I could have great sessions in just 12 knots on it. It was too windy to really try it out so I had only few runs. As for the colours it's red and black and everyone (specially boys) just loved the look of it! I think I could see pure desire in their eyes ;)

9m got to be my absolutely favourite kite yet!!! The way it looks just makes me instantly smile - gorgeous connection of mellow grey and intense pink! It felt fantastic on the water, heaps of depower and so stable in the air!!! You can just park it, take your hands of the bar, lean back and enjoy hands free ride :) I'm in love with it, hubby will be jealous! ;)

6m (white and lime) is super fast, I was kind of all over the place with it at the beginning, noticeable change from 7m Rebel 08.

All 3 kites handled gust very well. The jumps felt bit more floaty :)
But I have to say I had trouble landing anything. :( It probably takes me another session or two to get used to new toys and I'm really looking forward to getting 09 bars, may make a little difference.

DA DIRTYSTOPOUT FASHION LAUNCH

So this evening was the day of the days for Lena! She has worked for it so hard!
Herself and Darcys's were celebrating the launch of their new label DSO Fashion @ the South William Urban Lounge.
I got her invitation and just couldn't miss it! :)

"10 DJ's will delivery the finest tunes from mellowbeats to hot rhythms.Our Graffiti artist gonna bring you closer to the world of stencil art. And the basement gets transformed to our own 'New York styled boutique'where when your are fast enough have the chance to grab some free samples from our freshly printed DSO collection."

My New Babies are Here!!!

I just got my new Rebels!!!
- 6m - pretty white & lime
- 9m - very fashionable pink & gray
- 12m - solid red/black

09 brand new babies in my hands!!!
I'm so excited -already love them :)))
THANKS GRAHAM!!!
You can order yours in E&D Marine 0868188908

Now I need to pray for some wind! Would love to try them out tonight but won't be able to make to the beach... Fingers crossed for tomorrow and for the weekend!!! YaaaaHaaaa

Party Weekend

With Pure Magic new shop opening it was a party weekend :)
None kitesurfing done at all....

Wet Bum Checked Landings...

So we got wind and loads of it in Mayo, same with rain unfortunately :(

For some reason I didn't manage to get a good session on the lake. So ok it was gusty, but it's nothing new to me... just couldn't land anything, every single jump, backloop, frontloop finished with crashing my bum into water! In gusts I was just over rotating , going for triple loops at times and just totally loosing my balance and orientation. 2 full days of it!!! Oh, how embarrassing...:(

Got a good session in the waves on Saturday evening, bit underpowered on my 7m but smiling - it was just beautiful, love kitesurfing and looking at the sunset :)

Played a little with my new toy - camcorder, got some footage from the weekend and now will probably spend many evenings trying to edit and put some half-decent "movie" together. Never done anything like that before so should be fun.... yeah ;)

Belmullet

hmmm.... it wasn't as good as I remember it from last year. Not sure if I will be so keen to come back soon.

Arrived around 6pm on Sat, just in time for high tide and full lagoon, but the wind was dying off :( Got out on Gavin's 12m Vegas 08 and had it fully powered up to keep going. Even though it was light I really enjoyed that evening session. Busted few nice high jumps, frontrolls, downturn transitions and struggled with backloops on the flat water - just my typical stuff.

Got few tips from Eamon for a Sunday session but wind was too gusty and unpredictable to try looping the kite. Everyone was on 7m and sometimes it was a struggle to hold on to it, few minutes later there was nothing. Tried one footers, almost got one but the majority was wet bum checked with one foot still off the broad :) It's not as easy as it looks.

Riding in the flat water was nice, but the sea side session on Sunday was one of the worst this summer.

Monday turned out to be our relaxing day, no wind but lovely sunshine - went to explore other spots pass Belmullet town and enjoyed surfing/swimming and bbq on Tiraun beach.

Another 2 sessions in the shorty! :)

Dee, thank you for your lovely photos!